Intimate Partner Violence, Gender and Lethality: A Case Analysis of Two Fatalities

Deaths caused by intimate partner violence (IPV) are an area of significant concern for advocates, practitioners, and experts. As part of collaborative community interventions to curb violence, the creation of multi-agency fatality review teams has shown effectiveness in reducing IPV and concomitant homicides. The following study is deviant case analysis of 2 female perpetrators within a multi-phasic fatality review of 22 felony cases of IPV resulting in homicide in a city in the southeastern United States. This study was designed to effectively gauge whether gender is a variable for those accused of felony murder as a result of IPV. Results indicate gender disparities for women, including inability to act as free agents within increasingly violent relationships; disparate characterization of violent women as more egregious than those of male counterparts within law enforcement and behavioral health and the pressing need for legal and therapeutic rehabilitative services provided to violent women offenders.